Employer of Record in Saudi Arabia

Hire, pay, and sponsor your Saudi team without setting up a local entity, while Komp’s AI Agent Swarms monitor compliance and your people stay in control.

Custom pricing based on your workforce model.

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Currency

Saudi Riyal (SAR), pegged to the US dollar

Capital

Riyadh

Official Language

Arabic, with contracts required in Arabic

Payroll Cycle

Monthly, paid through the Wage Protection System

Recognized for Compliance, Visibility, and Global Hiring Efficiency

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The Komp Advantage

Why Choose Komp as Your Employer of Record in Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia is the largest economy in the Middle East and the most active market in the region, with Vision 2030 driving sustained investment across technology, energy, entertainment, tourism, and infrastructure. It is also the most demanding Gulf market to employ in. A work permit and iqama can only be sponsored by an entity holding a commercial registration, Saudization quotas now apply at profession level, and an employer that falls into the lowest Nitaqat band loses the ability to issue visas at all. Komp gives you a compliant route in. We act as the legal employer and sponsor for your Saudi team, while our AI-powered platform runs payroll, classification, and compliance monitoring across the full employee lifecycle. Every AI recommendation is reviewed before action is taken, so you move fast without losing control.

Sponsorship Without a Commercial Registration

Your employee cannot legally live or work in the Kingdom without a sponsored iqama and work permit. Komp holds the registration that makes sponsorship possible, manages the visa, medical testing, biometrics, and iqama issuance, and keeps every renewal on schedule.

Saudization Exposure You Do Not Inherit

Nitaqat bands govern whether an employer can issue visas or renew permits at all. Hiring through Komp means the localization obligation sits with an establishment that manages its band deliberately, rather than with a business that has no Saudi entity to manage one.

GOSI Calculated Correctly, Both Systems

Contribution rates now differ depending on whether an employee was registered before or after July 2024, and the newer rates step up during the year. Komp segregates employees by registration system and applies the right rate each month.

Qiwa and WPS Handled as Standard

Contracts must be documented electronically on Qiwa, and wages must flow through the Wage Protection System. Komp runs both as part of normal payroll operations, because failures here restrict permits rather than simply attracting a fine.

How Komp’s Employer of Record Works in Saudi Arabia

Entering Saudi Arabia with Komp is simple. You choose the talent and direct the work; Komp becomes the legal employer and sponsor, and runs everything behind the role, from contracts and payroll to immigration, insurance, and compliance, through one connected platform.
  • Enter the market immediately: Start hiring in the Kingdom without a commercial registration, Ministry file, office lease, local bank account, or Nitaqat band of your own to defend.
  • We employ and sponsor, you lead: Komp holds the legal employment relationship and the iqama sponsorship. You manage day-to-day work, goals, and performance.
  • Scale with confidence: Add or reduce Saudi headcount as plans change, with compliant onboarding, visa processing, and offboarding built in.
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Employer of Record

Employment Compliance in Saudi Arabia

Employment in Saudi Arabia is governed by the Saudi Labor Law and administered by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development through the Qiwa platform, with social insurance handled by GOSI and wages monitored through the Wage Protection System. Contracts must be in Arabic and documented electronically, localization quotas apply at both establishment and profession level, and immigration status must be maintained throughout employment. Komp’s Global Compliance Engine maps every Saudi obligation to your workforce and keeps it current, from the first visa application to the end of service payment.

Audit Ready

Compliance Secured

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What Global Teams Say About KOMP

“

Before Komp, we had no unified view of our contractors and EOR workforce. Today HR and Finance operate from the same real-time data.

HR

HR Director

Series B Tech Company
“

Komp didn't just simplify global hiring. They gave us a command center for scaling internationally. Instead of waiting months to establish an entity, we onboarded talent compliantly in just days.

COO

Chief Operating Officer

Enterprise Technology Company
“

Komp gave us the compliance infrastructure to operate confidently across regulated markets, without increasing operational overhead.

COO

Chief Operating Officer

TechGlobal Inc.
“

As our international footprint expanded, maintaining consistency across workforce processes became challenging. Komp helped us establish a scalable framework that supports operational efficiency and compliance confidence.

VP

VP, People & Operations

Global Growth Organization
“

We finally have systems of scale that move as fast as our product teams. KOMP didn’t just reduce admin burden, they gave us infrastructure we can actually build on.

VP

VP of People Operations

EnterpriseSoft
“

Global hiring evolved from a cross-functional burden into a coordinated operating model. For the first time, HR, Finance, and Legal were looking at the same numbers in the same place.

GW

Director, Global Workforce Operations

Enterprise Technology Company

What Is an Employer of Record in Saudi Arabia?

An Employer of Record (EOR) in Saudi Arabia is a locally registered organization that becomes the legal employer and sponsor of your Saudi workforce. It lets companies based anywhere hire people in Riyadh, Jeddah, the Eastern Province, or anywhere else in the Kingdom without obtaining a commercial registration, Ministry file, or office lease.
The EOR takes on the statutory employer duties, including Arabic contracts documented on Qiwa, work permits and iqamas, SAR payroll through the Wage Protection System, GOSI registration, mandatory health insurance, statutory leave, the end of service award, and lawful termination. You keep full control of the employee’s role, priorities, and performance.

This Model Works Especially Well When:

  • You need to place a commercial, technical, or project leadership hire in the Kingdom quickly
  • You are bidding for or delivering a Saudi contract and need staff on the ground before an entity exists
  • You have a candidate who needs iqama sponsorship and you have no registration to provide it
  • You want to test the market before committing to a commercial registration and a Nitaqat band
  • You want to reduce exposure to Saudization, wage protection, and immigration risk
Komp delivers this as part of a single workforce platform, so your Saudi employees sit alongside contractors, EOR workers, and direct employees in other countries, governed by the same data, workflows, and controls.

How Komp’s Employer of Record Works in Saudi Arabia

Komp becomes the legal employer and sponsor for your Saudi team members and takes on their statutory liabilities, while you run the work. Here is what that looks like in practice.

Market entry without entity setup

Skip the commercial registration, Ministry of Human Resources file, office lease, local bank account, GOSI establishment registration, and the Nitaqat band that comes with all of it. Komp’s existing Saudi infrastructure lets you make offers as soon as you find the right person.

Hire-to-retire lifecycle management

Komp Activate runs onboarding, Arabic contracts, Qiwa documentation, visa processing, and benefits; Komp PayOps runs WPS payroll; Komp TimeOps tracks working time and leave; and compliant offboarding, including iqama cancellation and end of service settlement, closes the loop in one flow.

One view across every country

Komp Workforce gives HR, Finance, and Legal a single source of truth for Saudi and global headcount, covering payroll status, fully loaded employer costs, accrued end of service liability, iqama expiry dates, leave balances, and compliance alerts, with audit trails built in.

What Komp Handles Under EOR in Saudi Arabia

Komp manages every part of the Saudi employment relationship so your team can focus on the work, not the paperwork.

Compliant Arabic employment contracts

We issue contracts in Arabic that meet the Saudi Labor Law and document them electronically on the Qiwa platform, setting the job title and classification, basic salary and allowances, working hours, probation, notice, and leave. Qiwa documentation is not administrative housekeeping: it determines whether a Saudi employee counts toward localization at all.

Work permits, visas, and iqama issuance

We manage the full immigration sequence, including block visa and work permit approval, entry visa, medical fitness testing, biometrics, and iqama issuance, then track every expiry and handle renewals before they lapse.

WPS payroll and salary disbursement

Komp PayOps calculates SAR payroll and pays employees through the Wage Protection System via approved channels on the statutory schedule. Because there is no personal income tax, net pay equals gross pay, and compliant WPS records keep permits renewable.

GOSI registration and contributions

We register employees with GOSI and apply the correct rate for their registration system. Saudi nationals registered before July 2024 sit on the earlier schedule, those registered afterward sit on a rising schedule that stepped up again during 2026, and non-Saudi employees carry an employer-only occupational hazards contribution.

Saudization and workforce reporting

We maintain the establishment records, Qiwa documentation, and reporting that Nitaqat assessment depends on, and monitor how your hiring plans interact with profession-level quotas and salary thresholds.

Mandatory health insurance and benefits

We arrange the health insurance cover that Saudi law requires for employees and their eligible dependents, and can administer supplementary medical cover, life insurance, education allowances, and housing or transport allowances.

Leave, working time, and HR support

Komp TimeOps tracks annual leave of 21 days rising to 30 days after five years of service, public holidays, the 48-hour working week and its reduction during Ramadan for Muslim employees, sick leave, and maternity leave. Employees get support in Arabic and English.

Offboarding and end of service award

We manage exits with the correct notice, calculate the end of service award at half a month’s wage for each of the first five years and a full month for each year thereafter, settle final pay, and cancel the work permit and iqama properly.

Employer of Record vs Entity Setup in UAE

Criteria Employer of Record (Komp) Own Saudi Entity
Best suited for Market entry, project teams, small to mid-sized headcount, testing before commitment Large, permanent Saudi operations, government contracting, or a regional headquarters strategy
Time to hire As soon as the candidate accepts, with visa processing running in parallel Commercial registration, Ministry file, GOSI registration, and bank account must be in place first
Upfront cost No setup cost; predictable per-employee fee Registration and licensing fees, office lease, capital requirements in some structures, and annual renewals
Saudization The localization obligation sits with Komp’s establishment Your own Nitaqat band, which governs whether you can issue visas or renew permits
Sponsorship Komp sponsors work permits and iqamas You sponsor, subject to your registration and approved visa quota
Compliance ownership Managed by Komp with AI-assisted monitoring and human review Your responsibility, including Qiwa, WPS, GOSI, health insurance, and immigration renewals
Workforce visibility Saudi data unified with your global workforce in one platform Often a separate local system and government relations provider

Employer of Record Cost in UAE

EOR pricing in Saudi Arabia varies by provider, service scope, and team size. The comparison worth running is not the fee alone. It is the fee against the registration, visa, insurance, and government relations costs of running your own Saudi entity, plus the end of service liability that accrues from the first year and the Saudization exposure that comes with holding your own band.

Komp pricing is built around your actual workforce model. You pay a clear, predictable fee that covers employment administration, sponsorship and renewals, WPS payroll, GOSI, health insurance, end of service provisioning, compliance monitoring, and support. There are no hidden charges, no FX markups on payroll, and no need to coordinate a separate government relations agent, payroll bureau, and insurance broker.

What Shapes Your Price

  • Number and type of workers: employees, contractors, and EOR hires across your footprint
  • Saudi or non-Saudi nationals: GOSI treatment differs substantially, and Saudi hires carry localization value
  • Compensation design: basic salary versus allowances, since the end of service award and GOSI base are calculated differently
  • Benefits scope: health insurance tier and dependent cover, life insurance, housing, schooling, and transport allowances
  • Integrations and reporting: HRIS, ERP, and finance system connections

Why EOR Delivers Strong ROI

  • Faster revenue: your Saudi hire starts contributing sooner, with visa processing handled in parallel
  • Lower overhead: no registration, office lease, government relations agent, local accounting, or in-country HR staff
  • Lower risk: no Nitaqat band of your own to defend, and fewer immigration, WPS, and GOSI exposures
  • Less admin: one platform, one invoice, one partner for Saudi employment

Who Should Use an EOR in Saudi Arabia?

Companies entering the Kingdom

Place a country manager, sales director, or partnerships lead in Riyadh without committing to a registration, an office, and a Nitaqat band before the market is proven.

Technology and professional services

Hire consulting, solutions, and delivery talent to serve Saudi government and enterprise clients who increasingly expect a local presence and local working hours.

Energy, construction, and industrial firms

Place project, engineering, and commercial staff close to Saudi operations and giga-project contracts without a separate corporate structure for each engagement.

Companies delivering Vision 2030 programs

Support tourism, entertainment, sport, healthcare, and infrastructure mandates with staff on the ground while the longer-term entity question is still being decided.

Companies with a candidate who needs an iqama

When the person you want to hire needs sponsorship and you have no Saudi registration, an EOR is not the convenient option, it is the only compliant one.

HR and Finance leaders

Get predictable costs, consolidated invoicing, visible end of service accrual, owned payment rails, and audit-ready records for every Saudi hire.

Why Komp Is Different from Generic EOR Providers

Many providers can put a Saudi employee on payroll. Komp is built as workforce infrastructure, combining AI intelligence, owned payment rails, and human governance so you can grow in the Kingdom with confidence.

AI Agent Swarms with human control

Autonomous agents continuously check payroll, classification, contracts, iqama expiry dates, and regulatory change. Recommendations are surfaced for review before anything is executed: autonomous intelligence, human control.

Current with the 2026 Nitaqat cycle

The localization framework was reset in April 2026, the middle compliance band was removed, and Qiwa documentation now determines whether a Saudi employee counts at all. Many providers are still working from the previous cycle. Komp tracks the change and advises against it.

GOSI handled across both systems

Employees registered before and after July 2024 attract different contribution rates, and the newer schedule increases during the year. Getting this wrong understates cost and creates arrears. Komp segregates and applies the correct rate automatically.

Immigration tracked, not remembered

Work permits and iqamas expire on separate cycles, and a lapse can stop an employee working and expose the employer. Komp tracks every date and starts renewals early rather than relying on a spreadsheet reminder.

Enterprise-grade security

AES-256 encryption, SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, GDPR compliance, role-based access control, and AWS hosting with multi-region redundancy protect your Saudi employee data.

One platform, four modules

Komp Activate, Komp Workforce, Komp TimeOps, and Komp PayOps connect hiring, workforce records, time, and pay across Saudi Arabia and 150+ countries.

Why Use an Employer of Record in Saudi Arabia?

Saudi Arabia offers the largest domestic market in the Gulf, no personal income tax, and a decade of committed public investment under Vision 2030. It also carries the region’s most demanding employment compliance regime. An EOR makes entering it faster, safer, and lighter on overhead.

Hire when you have no registration to sponsor

This is the decisive point. Without a commercial registration, your company cannot issue a work permit or iqama to anyone. An EOR is the only compliant way to employ in the Kingdom without building that structure first.

Avoid inheriting a Nitaqat band

Localization quotas apply to the employing establishment. An employer in the lowest band cannot issue new visas or renew permits, and its expatriate staff may transfer away without consent. Hiring through Komp keeps that exposure off your own structure.

Stay compliant from day one

Contracts must be in Arabic and documented on Qiwa, wages must move through the Wage Protection System, GOSI registration is mandatory, and health insurance must be in place. Komp keeps all of it current.

Understand the true cost of a hire

There is no income tax, and expatriate GOSI is limited to an employer-only occupational hazards contribution, so the headline cost looks low. The real model includes visa and insurance costs, allowances, and an end of service award accruing from year one. Komp makes the fully loaded number visible before you make an offer.

Manage Saudi Arabia like every other market

See Saudi headcount, costs, iqama status, and compliance in the same platform as the rest of your global workforce. No separate vendor, no data silos.

Saudi Employment Compliance: What Global Employers Must Manage

Saudi employers answer to the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development for contracts, permits, and localization, to GOSI for social insurance, and to the Wage Protection System for payment monitoring. These are the areas that matter most, and how Komp covers them.

Employment contracts and Qiwa documentation

Contracts must be written in Arabic and documented electronically on the Qiwa platform. Since April 2026, a Saudi employee only counts toward localization percentages where the contract is documented on Qiwa, and GOSI registration alone is no longer sufficient.

Work permits and iqama sponsorship

Employment is inseparable from immigration. A work permit and iqama can only be sponsored by an entity holding a commercial registration, and the process includes visa approval, entry, medical testing, biometrics, and iqama issuance. Each element expires on its own cycle and must be renewed before lapse.

Saudization and the Nitaqat framework

A new three-year Nitaqat cycle began in April 2026, and the middle compliance band was removed, so establishments that previously sat in it are now treated as non-compliant. Quotas apply at profession level across hundreds of roles, not only establishment-wide, with sector requirements that are highest in healthcare, accounting, procurement, sales, and marketing.

Saudization salary thresholds

A Saudi employee must be paid above a minimum monthly salary to count toward localization, and that threshold was raised in the 2026 cycle. Certain professions carry higher thresholds again, so a Saudi hire below the relevant figure delivers no localization benefit despite the cost.

Consequences of non-compliance

An employer in the lowest band faces blocked visa issuance, suspended permit renewals, restrictions on government contract bidding, and loss of control over sponsorship transfers, meaning expatriate staff may move to another employer without consent.

GOSI social insurance

Saudi nationals registered before July 2024 remain on the earlier contribution schedule. Those registered afterward sit on a rising schedule that increased again partway through 2026, so payroll must segregate employees by registration system. Non-Saudi employees attract an employer-only occupational hazards contribution. Contributions are capped at a statutory monthly earnings ceiling.

Wage Protection System

Wages must be paid through the Wage Protection System via approved channels and reported on the statutory cycle. Non-compliance restricts permit processing rather than simply attracting a penalty, which means it can stop hiring altogether.

No income tax

Saudi Arabia levies no personal income tax on salaries, so employees receive their full gross pay. This is a significant part of the Kingdom’s appeal when recruiting internationally, particularly for senior roles.

Leave, working time, and insurance

Employees receive 21 days of annual leave, rising to 30 days after five years of service, alongside public holidays. Maternity leave is provided under the Labor Law, the working week is 48 hours and is reduced during Ramadan for Muslim employees, and health insurance cover is mandatory.

Probation, notice, and end of service

Probation may run to 90 days and can be extended to a maximum of 180 days with the employee’s written agreement. Notice is generally 60 days for monthly-paid employees and 30 days for others. The end of service award is half a month’s wage for each of the first five years and a full month for each year thereafter, subject to the grounds for termination.

The 2026 Nitaqat cycle removed the middle compliance band, and marginal employers became non-compliant overnight. A new three-year localization cycle began in April 2026 with the aim of creating hundreds of thousands of additional Saudi private-sector jobs by 2028. The intermediate band was eliminated, so establishments that previously sat in it were reclassified into the lowest tier, where visa issuance is blocked, permit renewals are suspended, government contract bidding is restricted, and expatriate staff may transfer to another employer without consent. Quotas now also apply profession by profession rather than only across the establishment, and the salary a Saudi employee must earn to count toward the quota was raised. Hiring through Komp means this sits with an establishment that manages its band deliberately, rather than with a business trying to defend one from outside the country.

Employer of Record Coverage Across the Kingdom

Saudi commercial activity concentrates in three major hubs, alongside the giga-projects reshaping the map. Komp lets you hire compliantly anywhere in the Kingdom, with the same payroll, sponsorship, and compliance workflows.

Employer of Record in Riyadh

The capital and the center of government, finance, and corporate activity, home to the King Abdullah Financial District, the regional headquarters program, and the deepest pool of senior commercial, consulting, and technology talent in the Kingdom.

Employer of Record in Jeddah

The commercial gateway on the Red Sea coast, strong in trade, logistics, shipping, retail, and family business groups, with a long-established international community.

Employer of Record in the Eastern Province

Centered on Dammam, Dhahran, and Al Khobar, the heart of the energy sector and its supply chain, and the natural base for engineering, petrochemical, and industrial roles.

Employer of Record in NEOM and the giga-projects

Large-scale developments including NEOM, the Red Sea Project, Qiddiya, and Diriyah, drawing international project, engineering, hospitality, and design talent on contract cycles.

Employer of Record in King Abdullah Economic City

A purpose-built economic zone north of Jeddah focused on logistics, light manufacturing, and industrial investment, with its own incentives for companies establishing operations.

Whether your Saudi team sits in a Riyadh office, an Eastern Province site, or a giga-project location, Komp applies the Labor Law consistently, documents contracts on Qiwa, sponsors the iqamas, runs WPS payroll, and tracks renewals, so adding a new location never adds new compliance work for you.

Employer of Record in Saudi Arabia: FAQs

It is a locally registered company that legally employs workers in the Kingdom on your behalf and sponsors their work permits and iqamas, taking responsibility for Arabic contracts, Qiwa documentation, WPS payroll, GOSI, health insurance, end of service, and compliance. You direct the employee’s work; the EOR carries the employer obligations, so you can hire without a Saudi entity.

Not directly. A work permit and iqama can only be sponsored by an entity holding a commercial registration. Using an Employer of Record is the compliant way to employ someone in the Kingdom when your company does not hold that registration.

Saudization, administered through the Nitaqat framework, requires employers to maintain a proportion of Saudi nationals in their workforce, now measured at profession level as well as across the establishment. The band an employer sits in determines whether it can issue visas and renew permits. When you hire through Komp, that obligation sits with our establishment rather than with your business.

A new three-year cycle began in April 2026. The middle compliance band was removed, so establishments previously in it are now treated as non-compliant. Quotas were extended to profession level across hundreds of roles, the minimum salary for a Saudi employee to count toward the quota was raised, and Qiwa contract documentation became a precondition for counting at all.

Because Komp already holds the registration and employer infrastructure, onboarding starts as soon as your candidate accepts. The timeline is then driven by immigration processing, which includes visa approval, entry, medical testing, biometrics, and iqama issuance, and by whether the candidate is already in the Kingdom.

No. Saudi Arabia levies no personal income tax on salaries, so employees receive their full gross pay. Expatriate employees also carry no GOSI deduction of their own, since only an employer-funded occupational hazards contribution applies to them.

GOSI is the social insurance scheme. Saudi nationals registered before July 2024 remain on the earlier contribution schedule, while those registered afterward sit on a rising schedule that increased again during 2026. Non-Saudi employees attract an employer-only occupational hazards contribution. Komp segregates employees by registration system and applies the correct rate.

It is the statutory termination benefit paid in place of a pension for expatriate staff. It accrues at half a month’s wage for each of the first five years of service and a full month’s wage for each year thereafter, with the amount payable depending on the grounds for termination. Komp accrues it monthly and settles it on exit.

Qiwa is the platform on which employment contracts are documented electronically. Since April 2026, a Saudi employee only counts toward localization percentages where the contract is properly documented there, so an undocumented contract can leave an employer short of its quota despite having made the hire.

Employees receive 21 days of paid annual leave, rising to 30 days after five years of service, alongside public holidays. The working week is 48 hours and is reduced during Ramadan for Muslim employees.

Probation may run to 90 days and can be extended to a maximum of 180 days with the employee’s written agreement. Notice is generally 60 days for monthly-paid employees and 30 days for others, and specific grounds under the Labor Law allow termination without notice or award.

Often yes. Government contracting and the regional headquarters program generally require a local corporate presence, so an EOR is best used to build the team and prove the market first, then transition to an entity when the commercial case is clear. Komp supports that transition rather than competing with it.

Komp is SOC 2 Type II certified, ISO 27001 certified, and GDPR compliant, uses AES-256 encryption with role-based access control, and is hosted on AWS with multi-region redundancy, aligned to Saudi data protection expectations.

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